Technician service action auditing for compliance

Regrettably, many service calls intended to address issues with transaction terminals often fail to provide satisfactory solutions. This can occur due to various factors, such as the technician's inattention to detail or expertise. In some cases, the technician may mistakenly believe that the problem has been effectively resolved, when in reality it persists. Consequently, the site manager overseeing the terminal's operation or maintenance may assume that the issue has been resolved upon the technician's departure, only to discover later that the terminal remains non-functions for customers. Furthermore, the process of scheduling a follow-up visit by the technical can result in additional delays, prolonging the period during which the terminal remains out of service.

Unnecessary service calls to transaction terminals are created due to poor servicing practice or activity. This results in significant terminal downtime; each avoidable terminal fault results in multiple hours of terminal downtime per instance of poor servicing.

The above technical issues are solved by the technical solutions provided herein and below. According to an embodiment of the technology disclosed herein, a service technician's on-site service workflow is enhanced to include the technician using their mobile device's integrated camera to capture an image of one or more of components of the terminal when one or more actions taken by the technician during a service call are completed. The image is analyzed to determine if the one or more actions are compliant or non-compliant. The technician is notified in real time or near real time as to whether the actions were compliant or non compliant via the mobile device. In an embodiment, a site manager is notified when the actions are non compliant such that the site manager can potentially stop the technician from leaving the site without a problem being experienced by the terminal being fully resolved.

In an embodiment, integrated cameras located inside a housing of the terminal and the cameras capture images of the components of the terminal during the service call. The images are analyzed for action compliance and the technician and/or site manager are notified in real time or near real time when the technician's actions are deemed non compliant.

As used herein a “technician,” a “service technician,” a “customer engineer,” a “service engineer,” and/or a “user” may be used interchangeably and synonymously. This is an individual that was dispatched to a terminal to perform maintenance actions on the terminal based on an error code or a fault being raised from the terminal.

A “transaction terminal” and/or “terminal” refers to a standalone composite device operated to perform transactions for or by consumers. A terminal can include an automated teller machine (ATM), a self-service terminal (SST), a point-of-sale (POS) terminal, or a kiosk.

1 FIG.A 100 is a diagram of a systemfor auditing actions of a service technician for compliance during a service visit or service call to a terminal, according to an example embodiment. Notably, the components are shown schematically in simplified form, with only those components relevant to understanding of the embodiments being illustrated.

100 Furthermore, the various components (that are identified in system) are illustrated and the arrangement of the components are presented for purposes of illustration only. Notably, other arrangements with more or less components are possible without departing from the teachings of auditing actions of a service technician for compliance during a service visit or service call to a terminal, presented herein and below.

100 110 110 120 130 110 111 112 113 114 111 111 113 114 Systemincludes a cloud/server(hereinafter just “cloud”), one or more terminals, and one or more user devices. Cloudincludes at least one processorand a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium (hereinafter just “medium”), which includes instructions for a maintenance systemand a compliance manager. The instructions when provided to and executed by processorcause processorto perform the processing or operations discussed herein and below with respect to--.

120 121 122 123 124 121 121 123 124 120 125 126 127 Each terminalincludes at least one processorand a medium, which includes instructions for an administration managerand a maintenance agent. The instructions when provided to and executed by processorcause processorto perform the processing or operations discussed herein and below with respect to-. The terminalalso includes one or more cameras, a media depository, and other peripherals, such as a scanner, a card reader, a weigh scale, a baggage scale, a touch display, a media depository acceptor, a media depository dispenser, a keypad, wireless transceivers, etc.

130 131 132 133 131 131 133 130 134 Each user deviceincludes at least one processorand a medium, which includes instructions for a maintenance application (app). The instructions when provided to and executed by processorcause processorto perform the processing or operations discussed herein and below with respect to. User devicefurther includes at least one integrated camera.

120 120 114 100 120 124 113 120 Initially, a processing workflow associated with detecting terminalerror codes or faults, scheduling service calls, and reporting terminal service call actions taken is enhanced to integrate images captured of one or more components of the terminalduring the service calls and the compliance managerinto the workflow. During operation of system, terminalencounters and error code, which may be a severe fault or may be something impending that could lead to a severe fault eventually or imminently. Maintenance agenttraps or detects the error code and reports the error code to maintenance system. Maintenance system generates a service ticket, assigns a service technician to the ticket, and schedules a service call for the technician to visit the site associated with the terminaland remedy the error code.

113 120 120 130 133 120 133 133 113 Maintenance systemsends notice of the site's location, the terminal, the ticket, the error code, the scheduled date and time of the service call, and, optionally, instructions for remedying the error code on the terminalto a user deviceof the technician through a user interface (UI) of maintenance app. On the scheduled data and time, the technician visits the site and the terminalfor performing maintenance actions to resolve the error code. The technician interacts with the UI of the maintenance appduring the service call to obtain instructions for resolving the error code, record maintenance actions taken during the service call, and indicate whether the error code was resolved or not resolved. While the technician interacts with the UI, maintenance appinteracts with maintenance system.

133 114 133 120 114 114 120 In an embodiment, when the technician reports through the UI that a maintenance action was completed, the UI instructs the technician to take a photograph or image of the component or components relevant to the maintenance action. The maintenance appsends the image depicting the component(s) after completion of the relevant maintenance action to compliance manageralong with the reported error code associated with the service ticket. In an embodiment, maintenance appalso sends a terminal identifier for the terminalto compliance manager, which allows compliance managerto map the terminal identifier to a terminal type and model and map the error code to a specific component or set of components associated with the terminal.

133 114 114 Upon receipt of the information from the maintenance app, compliance manageranalyzes the image against a model image associated with the component for which the error code is resolved. In an embodiment, compliance manageruses a machine learning model trained to compare terminal component images with associated error codes against model component images associated with resolved error codes and provide as output an indication if the inputted component images are compliant or non-compliant with resolution of the corresponding error codes.

In an embodiment the machine learning model is a combination of a convolutional neural network (CNN) and vision transformers (ViT) that categorizes or predicts service compliance and non-compliance providing real-time feedback. The combination of CNN and ViT in the model provides a multi-model solution for performance and high scalability. The Vit portion of the model draws information from a whole image whereas the CNN portion of the model performs a local analysis, which is focused on a smaller neighborhood of the image. This provides a higher degree of accuracy than traditional uses of artificial intelligence (AI) models.

114 114 133 Compliance managerdetermines whether a component image is compliant or not compliant with resolving a given error code in real time. When non-compliance is determined, compliance managersends a real-time alert or notification to the UI of maintenance appalong with a model image of how the component should look if the error code were properly resolved.

114 130 120 120 120 In an embodiment and when non-compliance is determined, compliance managersends a real-time alert to a user deviceof a site manager associated with the terminal; the alert indicating that the error code for the terminalhas not yet been properly resolved by the service technician. This affords the site manager the opportunity to intervene and attempt to stop the technician before the technician leaves the site because once the technician leaves the site a subsequent service call will need scheduled, which means the terminalwill remain offline and unavailable for transactions to customers until at least the time of the rescheduled service call.

114 124 113 113 In an embodiment, compliance managermaintains metrics indicating whether any non-compliance was detected and reported to the service technician in real time and terminal hardware metrics obtained from maintenance agentor maintenance system, and service technician and/or provider identifiers along with a link to the service record maintained in the maintenance system. These metrics can be used by the site manager or maintenance provider to determine when to switch service technician providers based on performance of the service technician providers.

114 120 In an embodiment, compliance managerprovides an audit service based on the metrics to the retailer, financial institution (FI), store, and/or site manager associated with serviced terminals. For example, service charges associated with service calls with outstanding and unresolved error codes can be automatically refunded or not invoiced.

114 133 120 In an embodiment, compliance manageralso sends positive alerts to the technician during a service call via the UI of maintenance app. This allows the technician to confirm maintenance actions are being performed properly in real time during a service call visit to a terminal.

120 126 126 126 126 126 126 126 126 127 120 This maintenance actions and corresponding analyzed images can be associated with a variety of components of the a given peripheral of the terminal, such as a media cassette of a media recycler, a rack of media cassettes of the media depository, an upper transport module of the media depository, a lower transport module of the media depository, an escrow bin of the media depository, a reject bin of the media depository, a deskew module of the media depository, media validation modules of the media recycler, and infeed module of the media depository, etc. The maintenance actions and corresponding analyzed images can also be associated with other peripheralsof the terminal, such as an encrypted personal identification number (PIN) pad peripheral, a card reader peripheral, a weigh scale peripheral, a combined weight scale and scanner peripheral, a scanner peripheral, a baggage weigh scale peripheral, a receipt printer, a touchscreen peripheral, etc.

133 120 100 126 126 127 1 1 FIGS.B-E 1 1 FIGS.B-E Example UI screens rendered from the maintenance appto a technician during a service call at a terminalare now discussed for illustration of system's features with. The components illustrated inare associated with media cassettes and a media cassette rack of the media depository. It is noted that the components can be for other different components of the media depositoryor other components associated with the other peripherals.

126 In an embodiment, the media depositoryis a media recycler. In an embodiment, the media depository is a cash and/or currency dispenser. In an embodiment, the media depository is a combined cash depositor and dispenser.

1 FIG.B 140 133 141 120 141 140 140 141 134 130 133 is screenrendered in the UI of the maintenance appdepicting an imagetaken by the technician for components of the terminalalong with UI options regarding the image, according to an example embodiment. The components illustrated within the screendepict a media cassette rack and individual media cassettes of the rack. The screendepicts an imagetaken by a technician using cameraof user devicewithin the context of the UI for maintenance app.

141 140 141 114 141 141 141 1 141 1 141 1 126 120 1 FIG.B The imagedepicted within the screenis also rendered with UI options that can be selected by the technician to submit the image/phototo compliance managerfor compliance analysis or to retake the image/photo. The imagealso depicts a status light-associated with media cassette rack, the status light-is darkened into depict that the status light-is red. A red light is an indication that media cassette rack is not full inserted back into the housing of the media depository. Thus, the technician has not resolved the error code completely yet for the service call that dispatched the technician to the terminal. The media cassette rack needs to be fully inserted into the housing such that the status light is green.

142 140 114 141 114 133 133 130 120 If the technician selected the submit photooption from the screenof the UI, compliance manageranalyzes the imageand determines that the error code is not resolved and therefore the maintenance action is non-compliant. Compliance managersends a real-time alert back to maintenance appalong with a message that the media cassette rack is not fully inserted into the housing. Maintenance apprenders the alert and message through another UI screen of the UI to the technician. Simultaneously, a status that the service visit is unresolved is sent to a user deviceof the site manager associated with the terminal.

1 FIG.C Based on the real-time alert sent to the technician, the technician knows to reinsert the media cassette rack until a green light is shown. This is shown in.

141 1 1 FIG.C In an embodiment, status light-is a small display, which displays show a status code rather than an illuminated light depicted in. In an embodiment, the status code is a hexadecimal code that is captured in the image and analyzed to determine the real-time alert sent to the technician.

1 FIG.C 150 151 120 151 150 150 151 134 130 133 is another screenrendered in the UI depicting an imagetaken by the technician for the components of the terminalalong with UI options regarding the image, according to an example embodiment. Again, the components illustrated within the screendepict a media cassette rack and individual media cassettes of the rack. The screendepicts an imagetaken by a technician using cameraof user devicewithin the context of the UI for maintenance app.

151 150 151 114 151 151 151 1 151 1 151 1 126 1 FIG.C The imagedepicted within the screenis also rendered with UI options that can be selected by the technician to submit the image/phototo compliance managerfor compliance analysis or to retake the image/photo. The imagealso depicts a status light-associated with media cassette rack, the status light-is not darkened into depict that the status light-is green. A green light is an indication that media cassette rack is full inserted back into the housing of the media depository.

152 153 133 151 114 114 151 151 1 114 133 113 Assuming the technician selects the submit photo optionand does not select the retake photooption, maintenance appsends the imageto compliance manager. Compliance managerverifies that the imagematches a model image for the error code and does in fact depict a green lit status light-. Compliance managerconfirms that the technician has resolved the error code completely and can close the service ticket associated with the service call via the UI of maintenance appthrough interaction with maintenance system.

114 133 114 130 Compliance managersends a real-time positive feedback alert to the technician through maintenance appvia the UI which indicates that the maintenance action was compliant. Compliance manageralso sends a real-time alert to a user deviceof the site manager which indicates the service call was compliant and successfully completed.

151 1 126 151 1 151 1 151 1 151 1 Notably, in addition to a racking state, the status light-can be associated with other different fault conditions of the media depository. Thus, in an embodiment, there is more than one status light-. In an embodiment, the illumination of colors on a single status light-, a visual pattern of different colors by the single status light-, strobing effect of one or more colors of the single status light-, and/or any of these with multiple status lights can be associated with other different fault conditions of the media depository.

1 FIG.D 160 120 161 160 160 161 134 130 133 is yet another screenrendered in the UI depicting a particular component of the terminalin real time before an imageof the particular component is captured along with other user interface options, according to an example embodiment. The component illustrated within the screendepicts a media cassette. The screendepicts a real-time imagethat has yet to be taken by a technician using cameraof user devicewithin the context of the UI for maintenance app.

160 134 161 1 161 1 The screendisplays in real time what is placed within the view finder of the camera, which in this situation is a top-down view of a media cassette loaded with media-, such as currency notes. Here, the technician's maintenance action was related to replenishing a media-or cash denomination within the media cassette. In an embodiment, the technician is an employee of a cash-in transit (CIT) service dispatch to replenish media notes to resolve an error code associated with media replenishment.

160 162 161 1 133 162 114 114 161 114 133 120 The screenalso includes selectable UI options to take a photo/imageof the media loaded cassette or view a tutorial on how to properly load media-into a cassette through the UI of maintenance app. Assuming the technician takes the photo by selecting the take photo optionand in a subsequent UI screen submits the photo to compliance manager, compliance managerreceives the imageand verifies that the media cassette is properly loaded. Compliance managersends a real time positive feedback alert to the technician through the maintenance appvia the UI and, optionally, sends a real-time alert to the site manager indicating that the media cassette was properly replenished to resolve the replenishment issue associated with the terminal.

1 FIG.E 170 170 170 120 170 170 170 170 170 170 170 170 170 133 114 is a set of three different screensA,B, andC rendered in the UI depicting images of a particular component of the terminaland UI graphics indicating whether each of the imagesA,B, andB are acceptable or not acceptable, according to an example embodiment. Again, the components illustrated within the screensA,B, andC depict a media cassette. The screensA,B, andC depicts a real-time alert received by the maintenance appfrom the compliance managerand rendered through the UI.

170 114 170 1 133 170 ScreenA depicts a situation in which the compliance managerhas determined based on a submitted imageA-from the maintenance appby the technician that media was properly loaded and replenished within the media cassette. As a result, a large graphic checkmark is presented within the screenA as a positive real-time feedback alert to the technician.

170 114 170 1 133 170 170 1 ScreenB depicts a situation in which the compliance managerhas determined based on a submitted imageB-from the maintenance appby the technician that media was properly but only partially replenished within the media cassette. As a result, a large checkmark is presented within screenB as a positive real-time feedback to the technician. It is noted that had the submitted imageB-depicted a rubber band or other object placed around the partially replenished media cassette, non-compliance would have been detected which would have resulted in the technician receiving a negative feedback.

170 114 170 1 133 170 1 1 170 ScreenC depicts a situation in which the compliance managerhas determined based on a submitted imageC-from the maintenance appby the technician that the media loaded and replenished is not properly aligned within the media cassette and includes one or more media notesC--out of alignment. As a result, a large graphic X is presented within screenB as a negative real-time feedback to the technician.

100 120 120 120 Systemreduces service calls and follow-up service calls required of technicians to remedy error codes associated with terminalsby providing real-time positive or negative feedback to the technicians based on images of components associated with asserted completed maintenance actions. The images are analyzed in real time based on model images associated with the components. In an embodiment, real-time status alerts or notifications relevant to the maintenance actions are sent to site managers associated with the terminals, which allows the site owners to monitor the service calls to the terminalsin real time. In an embodiment, metrics are maintained for the service calls and provided to the site owners for determinations as to whether service call reimbursements are warranted or whether a service provider should be changed.

114 133 113 110 114 In an embodiment, the processing associated with the compliance manageris subsumed into the maintenance app. In this manner, response times and feedback is nearly instantaneous as soon as images of components of the terminal relevant to maintenance actions are submitted from the UI by a technician. In an embodiment, the maintenance systemis processed on a different server or cloud from the cloudthat processes the compliance manager.

120 113 133 113 120 114 114 114 114 133 133 114 120 114 In an embodiment, an Internet-of-Things (IoTs) camera or cameras are placed within a housing of the terminalat predefined locations. The cameras wirelessly transmit images of components of the during a service session between a service technician and maintenance system. The maintenance appand/or maintenance systemprovide an error code for the component being service and terminal identifier for the terminalto compliance manager. Compliance managerobtains the correct images for the component being serviced from the corresponding IoTs cameras. Compliance manageruses these images for analysis to determine when maintenance actions taken by the technician or compliant or non compliant during the service session. Compliance managersends real-time positive and negative feedback regarding the maintenance actions to maintenance appfor presentation to the technical via the UI of the maintenance app. Compliance managercan distinguish between IoTs cameras based on camera identifiers being mapped or linked to specific components of the terminal. In an embodiment, an IoTs camera is situated within each media cassette in a top corner on a lid that covers a top of the cassette. In the case of the top corner camera location, when the technician shuts the lid after replenishing media and the camera sends a real-time image to compliance manager, which is evaluated in real time for compliance or non-compliance associated with the loaded media within the cassette.

133 120 114 113 120 114 133 120 114 133 In an embodiment, a combination of maintenance appsupplied images of components of the terminaland IoTs camera supplied images are received by compliance managerduring a technician session with maintenance systemduring a service visit to the terminal. Compliance managerselects optimal images of a corresponding component from the maintenance appsupplied images and the IoTs camera supplied images for a component based on the error code reported for the terminal. Compliance managerevaluates the optimal images for compliance or non-compliance and provides positive or negative feedback in real time to the technician via the UI of maintenance app.

2 3 FIGS.and 2 FIG. 200 200 The above-referenced embodiments and other embodiments are now discussed with reference to.is a flow diagram of a methodfor auditing actions of a technician during a service visit to a terminal for compliance. The software module(s) that implements the methodis referred to as a “maintenance action compliance manager.” The maintenance action compliance manager is implemented as executable instructions programmed and residing within memory and/or a non-transitory computer-readable (processor-readable) storage medium and executed by one or more processors of one or more devices. The processor(s) of the device(s) that executes the maintenance action compliance manager are specifically configured and programmed to process the maintenance action compliance manager. The maintenance action compliance manager may have access to one or more network connections during its processing. The network connections can be wired, wireless, or a combination of wired and wireless.

110 110 110 120 110 130 113 124 133 In an embodiment, the device that executes the maintenance action compliance manager is cloudor server. In an embodiment, the devices that execute the maintenance action compliance manager are cloudand terminal. In an embodiment, the devices that execute the maintenance action compliance manager are cloudand user device. In an embodiment, the maintenance action compliance manager is any combination of or all of maintenance system, compliance manager, maintenance agent, and/or maintenance app.

210 120 211 130 At, maintenance action compliance manager receives an image depicting a component of a terminalafter a maintenance action was performed during a service call by a technician. In an embodiment, at, the maintenance action compliance manager receives the image from the technician who is operating the user deviceand interacting with the UI during the service call.

212 In an embodiment, at, the maintenance action compliance manager receives the image from an IoTs camera that is focused on the component. The IoTs camera wirelessly transmits the image during the service call and after the maintenance action is performed by the technician.

213 In an embodiment, at, the maintenance action compliance manager receives an error code associated with the component. The error code is associated with a service ticket or service record for the service call.

220 220 213 221 At, the maintenance action compliance manager compares the image against a model image of the component after a model maintenance action was performed on the component. In an embodiment ofand, at, the maintenance action compliance manager obtains the model image for the component based on the error code and the model maintenance action.

222 In an embodiment, at, the maintenance action compliance manager processes a CNN with ViT using the image, the model image, and the error code as input. The maintenance action compliance manager receives as output a compliant indication or a non-compliant indication.

230 133 130 220 231 230 232 230 At, the maintenance action compliance manager provides real-time feedback to the technician through a UI of a maintenance appprocessed on the user deviceof the technician during the service call based on. In an embodiment, at, the maintenance action compliance manager provides the model image and a non-compliant indication to the UI whenindicated that the image depicts a non-compliant maintenance action for the maintenance action performed by the technician. In an embodiment, at, the maintenance action compliance manager provides a compliant indication to the UI whenindicated that the image depicts a compliant maintenance action for the maintenance action performed by the technician.

240 130 120 In an embodiment, at, the maintenance action compliance manager sends a real-time notification to a second user deviceassociated with a site manager. The site manager is responsible for operation of the terminaland the real-time notification is provided as a real-time status update to the site manager for the service call.

250 120 In an embodiment, at, the maintenance action compliance manager maintains metrics for the service call in a data store. The data store is associated with the terminal, a service provider associated with the technician, and a site of the terminal associated with an enterprise.

250 251 In an embodiment ofand at, the maintenance action compliance manager generates and provides reports from the data store to the service provider and the enterprise. The reports are relevant to the service call and other service calls to the site or other sites of the enterprise.

3 FIG. 300 300 is a flow diagram of another methodfor auditing actions of a technician during a service visit to a terminal for compliance, according to an example embodiment. The software module(s) that implements the methodis referred to as a “terminal maintenance auditor.” The terminal maintenance auditor is implemented as executable instructions programmed and residing within memory and/or a non-transitory computer-readable (processor-readable) storage medium and executed by one or more processors of one or more device(s). The processors that execute the terminal maintenance auditor are specifically configured and programmed for processing the terminal maintenance auditor. The terminal maintenance auditor may have access to one or more network connections during its processing. The network connections can be wired, wireless, or a combination of wired and wireless.

110 110 110 120 110 130 113 114 124 133 200 100 200 1 FIG.A 1 1 FIGS.A-E 2 FIG. In an embodiment, the device that executes terminal maintenance auditor is cloudor server. In an embodiment, the devices that execute the terminal maintenance auditor are cloudand terminal. In an embodiment, the devices that execute the terminal maintenance auditor are cloudand user device. In an embodiment, the terminal maintenance auditor is any combination of or all of maintenance system, compliance manager, maintenance agent, maintenance app, and/or method. The terminal maintenance auditor presents another and, in some ways, enhanced processing perspective from that which was discussed above for the systemof, the user interface screens of, and methodof.

310 120 120 311 130 312 120 At, the terminal maintenance auditor analyzes an image of a component of a terminalduring a service call by a technician to resolve an error code associated with the terminal. In an embodiment, at, the terminal maintenance auditor receives the image from the technician who is operating a user deviceduring the service call. In an embodiment, at, the terminal maintenance auditor links the error code associated with the terminaland the service call to the component and a model image for the component after a model maintenance action had been performed to resolve the error code.

320 321 126 120 At, the terminal maintenance auditor determines whether the image represents a compliant action or a non-compliant action for a maintenance action performed by the technician on the component during the service call. In an embodiment, at, the terminal maintenance auditor identifies the component as a media cassette rack of a media depository, which is inserted back into a housing of the terminal. The terminal maintenance auditor determines when a status light is illuminated red in the image as an indication that the maintenance action performed by the technician is the non-compliant action.

322 126 In an embodiment, at, the terminal maintenance auditor identifies the component as a media cassette of a media depositoryreplenished and loaded with media. The terminal maintenance auditor determines when one or more media items are misaligned based on the image that the maintenance action is the non-compliant action.

330 331 130 320 332 130 320 At, the terminal maintenance auditor provides real-time feedback to the technician as to whether the image represents the compliant action of the non-compliant action to expedite the service call and to improve a quality of the service call. In an embodiment, at, the terminal maintenance auditor sends a real-time positive feedback alert to a user deviceof the technician when a determination is made atthat the maintenance action is the compliant action. In an embodiment, at, the terminal maintenance auditor sends a real-time negative feedback alert to a user deviceof the technician when a determination is made atthat the maintenance action is the non-compliant action.

340 130 120 In an embodiment, at, the terminal maintenance auditor sends one or more real-time notifications to a user deviceoperated by a site manager. The site manager is responsible for operation of the terminalbased on the real-time feedback. The one or more real-time notifications are provided to the site manager as real-time status updated for the service call.

It should be appreciated that where software is described in a particular form (such as a component or module) this is merely to aid understanding and is not intended to limit how software that implements those functions may be architected or structured. For example, modules are illustrated as separate modules, but may be implemented as homogenous code, as individual components, some, but not all of these modules may be combined, or the functions may be implemented in software structured in any other convenient manner.

Furthermore, although the software modules are illustrated as executing on one piece of hardware, the software may be distributed over multiple processors or in any other convenient manner.

The above description is illustrative, and not restrictive. Many other embodiments will be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reviewing the above description. The scope of embodiments should therefore be determined with reference to the appended claims, along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled.

In the foregoing description of the embodiments, various features are grouped together in a single embodiment for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting that the claimed embodiments have more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive subject matter lies in less than all features of a single disclosed embodiment. Thus, the following claims are hereby incorporated into the Description of the Embodiments, with each claim standing on its own as a separate exemplary embodiment.